Have a Little Faith
by applemysteries
Summary: ON PERMANENT HIATUS / I don't even want to think about it.
1. Chapter 1

Just an AU idea I had about how Faith would continue her life if she'd never gone to Los Angeles for revenge. Please note that this will crossover with several other shows throughout the course of the story, since I plan to have Faith with her own Scooby Gang. (: (Some television show examples are Vampire Diaries, NCIS, Angel, and other shows/fandoms) Due to this, the story will be posted solely in the Buffy section, and it is not necessary to watch the other shows in order to read this story. Especially since it won't crossover until later.

Disclaimer: I only own the idea, everything else, not so much.

* * *

She settled down in Cleveland, Ohio she'd heard rumors that the place was a hellmouth, and if she had any hope of redeeming her soul - if you believed in that shit to begin with- saving people's lives from vampires seemed like a good start. Plus, being a slayer meant that bottled up tension tended to need an outlet of release and ever since fucking Xander Harris one night stands were no longer an option. She used to be all about casual sex: use them and lose them. But, now even any hint of casual sex reminded her of Xander Harris, which reminded her of Sunnydale, which reminded her of Buffy, who reminded her of tons of other things Faith would rather not think about. Like guilt. Guilt that threatened to swallow her whole.

Needless to say, Cleveland life wasn't exactly enjoyable. Faith stuck to the shadows, did the slay gig and danced in the dark. Of course, she wasn't fully reformed, and she quickly learned the art of slipping into people's pockets and purses without being noticed. Civilians paid her rent and her overall expenses, they owed it to her for saving their lives. Faith wasn't B, she protected these people day in and day out least they could do was provide a way for her to live.

Of course, sticking to the shadows meant that Faith had plenty of time to train. Occasionally she went to the gym to train, but found that her own house had a much better training room in the basement. The first thing Faith had worked on/improved was her instincts. Sensing the difference between vampire and human with a 100% accuracy rate. Then of course, came the reflexes. There was no way in _hell _another Allan Finch was going to occur. No way in hell.

It became an established routine, train like a mad woman by day, slay like a mad woman by night, and maybe somehow, Faith could squash some guilt and become worth something, maybe one day, she could become one of the heroes.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine not mine not mine….

* * *

The cool Cleveland air nipped at her as she walked briskly with purpose towards one of five cemeteries. It had been the one all hyped up on energy lately, granted most of the vampires were simply fledgings and didn't pose much of a threat but it was still aggravating, she would take out ten one night and then the next night there would be ten more.

At times like these, Faith found herself wishing for some demonology books or someone like Giles or Wes to tell her what the hell an army of fledgings meant. Their weren't any vampires that she'd encountered over the age of Six years, so either this place wasn't a strong enough hellmouth to attract vampires or it was only on the up and becoming like Faith feared. But, if that was the case Faith wasn't going to allow anything bad to happen to Cleveland. Not on her watch anyway.

Having reached her destination of "Cresten Cemetery" Faith shoved all thoughts away, focusing solely on the raw energy that was the essence of slayer power. With this technique Faith was able to move like a strike of lighting, enabling her to both block and deliver blows faster than any vampire (Well, fledgings and short timers anyway seeing as there weren't any Masters to test the theory out on). As long as Faith remained focused she could defeat any opponent with an air of ease, and a powerful grace that she couldn't have claimed to have back in Sunnydale. Granted, she hadn't lost her touch of recklessness and rebellion, she had always been a wild card, and with slaying it seemed better than technique. Technique got predictable, risky. Being a wild card meant that no one could decipher you, and Faith preferred having that advantage on her side.

Sensing a four month old fledging "sneaking" up behind her, Faith turned on all her senses, even if it wasn't necessary for such an easy kill. Faith turned towards the fledging, poising with her stake raised high. With baby vampires such as this, Faith enjoyed taunting them, especially since she knew she would win.

The fledging came at her, leaning to the right as he attacked, hoping to shove Faith closer to a gravestone and make her stumble. Faith surprised him by going straight for his right side, even though it was the left side that contained his heart.

The fledging panicked and tried to roll away to avoid the collision that was going to happen between him and Faith. Faith waited for the precise moment before she shot her stake up piercing the vampire straight through the heart. Faith casually pulled the stake out straightening with ease not even watching the fledge turn to dust.

Faith continued straight not looking behind her. Her senses told her everything she needed to know, the fledging was dust and looking behind her to check would just prove to be a waste of time.

Faith swept the whole cemetery twice running into a total of nine vampires none older than two years. Now it was time to meticulously sweep over the whole town. She wasn't Buffy picking and choosing which areas to patrol, Faith patrolled over _everything. _Usually two times, occasionally three and on days when the guilt got to be to much she would sweep the whole city and every single god damn building in it until the sun rose.

Sleep was a rare thing for her, she caught a few hours when she could or when she felt close to passing out, but with sleep came nightmares. Nightmares of people she'd killed coming back for revenge, or even nightmares about people she hadn't killed and instead had just majorly screwed the fuck over.

Those dreams however, she had grown accustomed to. It was the more recent ones that chilled her to the core, and made her wake up in the mild of the night gasping for breath, sweat clinging to her skin. In those nightmares, she was the only one there. She was the bad guy, and at the end of the dream she never failed to be looking straight into a mirror. When those nightmares occurred, there was always the chance she would wake up screaming, something Faith hated doing. Screaming showed vulnerability, and showing vulnerability meant that someone could use Faith as a little experiment, and there was no way in _hell _anyone was going to play mind games with her. Faith could play plenty of mind games just by herself.

Faith sighed, creaking open the door to an abandoned warehouse that she'd long since cleaned out a nest of vampires from back when she'd first arrived. Regardless of the fact that she never sensed anything different, and nothing vampire or otherwise had ever tried to make a home out of the place again Faith still searched the place from floorboard to floorboard, her critical eyes taking in the slightest change. Just like the other thousand times she'd checked, the place hadn't changed a bit. Faith walked out the same way she came, step one of a billion complete for patrol.

Some time later when patrol was done, Faith entered her house placing all her weapons back in their proper places. Some went in her huge weapons cabinet, and others were strategically placed in her house, hidden from all but her, or someone with a very keen eye. Faith never knew if a fight was going to happen in her house, and just in case she was "down on her luck" she made sure that a weapon could be attainable.

With all her normal routine stuff done, and a meal from Burger King devoured Faith had no choice but to turn to sleep, something that lately she rather hated.

As Faith lay in her bed, slowly drifting to sleep, the nightmare came hitting her full force dragging her down into a deep slumber, guaranteeing that she would be out for at least an hour.

* * *

_Faith stood in the center of what appeared to be an abandoned ballroom of sorts. As soon as Faith swiveled to get a better look at her surroundings, her wardrobe changed entirely. She was now sporting a strapless deep blue dress that ghosted out around her when she took a tentative spin, allowing a smile to grace her features. Just a soon as her experimental twirl was over, the solid oak door opened. Faith wouldn't have heard it at all, if she hadn't heard the light foot steps calmly walking towards her. _

_Faith turned naturally to face the noise, smiling even bigger when she saw _him _coming towards her. Her hands were up in position before he was even all the way towards her, their hands locking together with fluid, and practiced movement. Music began to play, and the two of them began to dance passion in every gentle step and every cautious spin._

_Eventually, Faith began to take note of the fact that something smelled distinctly like smoke, with some hidden undertones of burning flesh. Both of them ignored it, still dancing to the beautiful music. He lifted her arm up again, and she prepared to spin. When she was done spinning he was no where to be found, and she was no longer in a ballroom. _

_Faith slowly lowered her arm back down to her side again, her eyes flitting warily over her new surroundings. At least back in the ballroom she'd been surrounded by four walls, but here she was standing in the middle of a road. As she processed that she really was in the _middle _of the damn road, Faith walked briskly to the sidewalk glancing over everything once at a new angle. Immediately, Faith spotted something she hadn't seen before sticking out of a clump of trees: a hand. _

_Faith dashed across the street once more heading straight for the clump of trees. She knelt down next to the body with a swift motion, noticing that it appeared to be a young girl of fifteen. Faith reached a hand out to shake the girl but hesitated just short of actually touching her, the smell of burning flesh was growing stronger almost impossible to ignore this time. But just as quickly as the smell had come, it left and Faith's hand connected with the girls body. _

_The body was icy to the touch and as Faith jerked her hand away, she noticed the blood clinging to her fingertips. As Faith stared into it she began seeing flashes of Sunnydale, mostly knives and arrows, and of course Buffy and her's faces. Still transfixed in the blood, Faith didn't notice until she heard Buffy speaking that she had changed scenery yet again. This time around she had shed her dress for a white spaghetti strapped tank top, and dark jeans. Faith noted that yet again, she was barefoot. _

_"You could help you know." Buffy said lightly. _

_Faith looked away from her hand which no longer bore blood and glanced at Buffy making the bed. They'd both had this slayer dream before, but the atmosphere was different this time. The air felt lighter not suggesting at blood that was yet to be spilled. _

_"Does any of it make sense?'"Faith asked, ignoring what B had said altogether. _

_The blonde's shoulders went up in down as she shrugged her eyes still focused on the bed spread as she smoothed out a wrinkle. _

_"This is a slayer dream!" Faith ranted, staring at Buffy angrily. "If you don't know anything then why am I here?" _

_Buffy locked eyes with Faith briefly before she stepped away from the bed and pushed in her vanity chair, then standing behind it as she spoke her eyes looking downwards. _

_"I don't know." Buffy said stiffly. _

_"BS." Faith declared walking towards B with her arms folded across her chest. "If you know something you have to tell me. This is a _slayer _dream, and last I checked, I was a slayer." Faith growled. Buffy's eyes flickered up briefly to meet with Faith's before resuming her fixed gaze on the floor. "B, if you know anything please just help me." Faith said her voice only a step up from begging. _

_Buffy locked eyes with Faith, her expression blank and unreadable. "The key lies in the tomb." She said in a clear voice. _

_"What the hell does that mean?" Faith asked flabbergasted. What key, and what tomb? _

_Buffy shrugged again, and Faith watched the girl fade away her part in their linked slayer dream concluded. Looks like Faith was riding solo again. "The key lies in the tomb." She murmured to herself, the words making no more sense the second time around then they had the first time Buffy had uttered them. _

_Buffy's bedroom door slowly creaked open, and Faith sensed soft footsteps entering the room, stopping about two feet in. Faith stared at the white bed sheets Buffy had so carefully put on something telling her not to turn around. _

_"You think you know… what you are, what's to come. You haven't even begun." A soft slightly familiar voice whispered clearly from behind her. _

_Not in the mood to deal with another cryptic message, all in the same dream, Faith wheeled around expecting to come face to face with someone - presumably a girl- but instead…

* * *

_

Faith gasped, suddenly lunging upwards and sitting up in bed. Her body was covered in sweat, and her breathing was heavy. Faith leaned up against her headboard as she allowed her breathing to return to normal. She chanced a glance at the clock, disappointed to see that only two hours had passed while she was in slumber land. Knowing that after the dreams she'd just had her sleep was done for the night, Faith climbed out of bed wrapping her arms around her chest almost protectively.

"The key lies in the tomb…" She whispered thoughtfully, having no possible idea what the phrase could possibly mean or even indicate.

Faith involuntarily shivered, rubbing her hands over her arms as if to create some form of warmth. She had a feeling in her chest, and a tingling in her spine that told her that life on the hellmouth was about to get twice as interesting, and twice and deadly.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: So, I've gotten some reviews concerning why Faith is out of character, and hopefully this chapter clears that all up. (: Oh, and to any curious people, "Mystic Falls, Virginia" is a fictional town where the show Vampire Diaries takes place. And Diana Dormer is Faith's previous watcher, who is given a name in the Buffy book, "Go Ask Malice".

Warning: Maybe it's just me, but I feel as though I should warn about the death/violence in this chapter, because I think it's pretty ooky. That might just be me though. Also, although I don't view the swearing as a big deal, the word "fuck" is there, *gasp* the horror! Right, got that out of the way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer's character Faith, or the Go Ask Malice character Diana, or the Vampire Diaries's fictional town of Mystic Falls.

* * *

Regardless of whatever she had said to herself about _not _ going back to bed, after a six hour work out session that ended with her being to exhausted to throw a damn knife straight - which was never good - Faith finally disobeyed herself and crashed on the couch.

The dreams can immediately, as they always did. Never allowing her a moment of peaceful sleep.

* * *

_"You think you know… what you are, what's to come. You haven't even begun." Someone spoke from behind her._

_Faith jumped and spun around just as her surrounding came into focus. She was standing in a very familiar house. A_ too _familiar house. A house that could only belong to…_

_"Diana." Faith whispered quietly. "You can't be here."_

_"I know," Diana said gently steering Faith towards the couch. "I've never appeared in your dreams before. The Powers never called upon me too."_

_"The Powers?" Faith asked confused. Who the hell were the powers?_

_"Sit down, Faith. There's so much we need to talk about, so much you don't understand."_

_"Because no one in my dreams will explain anything!" Faith exploded, only to be pushed onto the couch by Diana. Diana sat next to her gathering Faith's hands in hers._

_"Dream people have messages to give, not answers. That's why I'm here. To give you answers." Diana said soothingly. "I assume you have a million questions, like you always do. So, ask away."_

_Faith was silent contemplating everything, a million questions flitting through her head. Which to begin with? As an appropriate one came to mind Faith surprised herself by blurting out the words: "I'm sorry."_

_Diana laughed softly, tucking some of Faith's hair behind her ear. "Everyone loses their way, Faith. It's natural. You're attempting redemption, I couldn't be anymore proud of you."_

_Faith pulled her hands out of Diana's grasp. "I let Katikos in. I let Katikos in and he ripped you in half." She whispered slowly._

_"I know. It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone."_

_"No. No it couldn't have! Golden Buffy never would have killed her watcher. Golden Buffy never would have killed someone period. It's not her nature."_

_"That doesn't make her the better slayer. Back in the old days… with the first slayer, the watchers mixed human with demon. You just tapped further into the demon aspect, but that doesn't make you the lesser slayer, or the lesser person. Plus, Faith, she did try to kill you."_

_Faith rolled her eyes, staring fixedly at the ceiling. "Alright then," She said somewhat aggravated. "What does 'the key lies beneath the tomb' mean?"_

_"It means that our time is almost up. You're body isn't used to have a peaceful dream."_

_"You can't leave!" Faith protested, clasping onto Diana's wrist as if it would make a difference._

_"It's time Fai." Diana said soothingly. "Mystic Falls, Virginia. That's where you need to be."_

_Diana smoothed Faith's hair like she used to before Faith had let a vampire into Diana's house, and Diana had been brutality murdered. Faith looked at her hands, tears welling in her eyes, and emotion choking her voice._

_"I miss you." She admitted quietly._

_Diana wrapped her arms around Faith in a fierce hug. "Be strong for me." She whispered in Faith's ear. "I have to go. Remember, you're the slayer now. Mystic Falls, Virginia. The key lies beneath the tomb."_

_The dream shifted so that Faith was sitting alone on Diana's couch. A thousand memories came back, memories of a happier time. Then suddenly the door creaked open and with a flash of blood, Faith was screaming. Both current Faith, and her past dream Faith screamed as loud as they possibly could when Katikos wrapped one claw around Diana's neck, the other on her calfs, and just pulled, ripping her apart effortlessly before turning towards Faith, still holding Diana, blood dripping steadily onto the ground, and saying: "Slayer."_

_The dream shifted so that yet again another version of past Faith was entering the house, after breaking in through the door. Faith watched as her past self investigated the house before a couple of police officers came in and tried to arrest her. Faith reacted badly, snapping ones neck before taking his gun, and shooting the other one point blank in the head._

_

* * *

_

The dream faded into nothing, and Faith quickly sat up on the couch, shaking from self loathing. She stood up wrapping her arms around her frame as if to offer herself protection from herself. She had killed those cops. She killed them in Diana's house, making the house twice a crime scene. She'd left Massachusetts after that. She'd planned on going to Boston for a short visit since she'd only gone to Belmont, where Diana and her had lived up until Diana's death, but Faith couldn't bring herself to do it. She'd run away from Boston months before she'd met Diana, and after spilling blood on her only safe haven there was no need to go to a city that had seen her blood spilt on more then one occasion, and had done nothing.

Just like Faith had done nothing for so many years, she only saved people if they were about to killed by vampires, if they were getting mugged then, well, that was there own damn fault wasn't it? Up until she'd gone to save those damn people in the church back in SunnyD, Faith had been done with humanity. Then, one little vampire attack and she's back in her own body, hating herself and lost in the world. That had been why she'd gone to Belmont, only to fuck things up there as well. She had to ruin every little thing she touched didn't she?

Fed up at herself, Faith let out a feral scream and unleashed her fists onto the television screen in front of her. Faith punched until she broke through the back of the TV as well, and had started breaking off plaster from the wall behind it. Faith pulled her arms out of the TV slowly. Her knuckles and therefore her hands were a bloody mess, and from her elbow downwards there were streaks off blood from the glass.

Faith took a deep breath, walking to the bathroom and washing her arms off. Self destruction wasn't going to help matters and she knew that. Plus, she didn't deserve an escape from the world, the fact that she'd been placed into an eight month coma instead of a coffin only proved that point further. She deserved to stick around and pay for what she'd done. If that met having nightmares all the damn time, then so be it. She had _earned _them.

Determined, Faith stood up straight and walked into her bedroom, quickly packing a duffel bag. Diana had said that the "key" that laid beneath the "tomb" was in Mystic Falls, Virginia, and if that was the case then Faith should really be over there trying to save the world, instead of in Cleveland, where the world wasn't doing to shabby all on it's own.

Grabbing only a few tanktops and a pair of jeans (changing of course, because pajamas weren't her preferred traveling attire) some basic slayer weaponry (stakes, holy water, crosses, and a single crossbow, plus Faith grabbed some knives just for kicks) and all her money, Faith zipped up the tote back and headed to the bus station. She'd be in Mystic Falls by tomorrow, and then, she would begin some serious world saving.


End file.
